(U) Can't Touch This (Gnome) - a Shadowcraft Warlock

[Gruftzwerg]

Welcome to my newest TO build. An "NO", this is not a "touch AC" optimization. It's more about the fluff, the mobility and the deception layers of the build which lead to the title.
This time it's gonna be a Shadowcraft Warlock. So expect a bunch of rules to be dissected so much until your head aches. You have been warned..^^
And while the build is not entirely gamebreaking as some of my other builds, I still feel the need to speak out a lil warning due to the power lvl. Due to being able to spam shadow illusions at-will, this build might prove a problem for many DMs (who already dislike warlocks for their at-will stuff) and for your parties balance. So pls check with your DM and table before attempting to play this build. In the wrong hands this can easily cause a mess at your table.
Long story short, lets dive into the build. Let me introduce you to the...

MC*: "Spammer"
* = "Main Character"


Warlock 6 / Shadowcraft Mage 5 / Shadowcrafter 9

Race: Air-Gnome
(you can take normal gnome, but I preferred +2 DEX over +2 CON. And as air creature you don't breathe. Thus allowing the easy/safe use of inhaled poisons if you want.)

Patron Deity: Shar

STR: 4 (8 base -2 race -2 pathetic)
DEX: 16 (14 base +2 race)
CON: 12
INT: 16
WIS: 10
CHA: 16*
*= mainstat: all +5 lvl up investments go in here. +5 wish +6 item also recommended.


Backstory:
The story of our MC: Spammer starts with an hyperactive gnome child, born with innate eldritch powers (from his ancestors). Even as kid he was hard to catch and stop. He "earned" his nickname "Spammer" due to constantly spamming pranks all day long. Unlocking his eldritch powers just did make everything worse for everybody else. But he did eventually get bored from always doing pranks to the same people at home. He decides to see the world and find new friends/victims for his pranks.


Skills:
If you like to use poisons (as mentioned; we are immune to "inhaled" poisons), you could drop Bluff after investing the minimum required 4 ranks and invest into Craft Alchemy or Craft Poisonmaking. Imho bluff is very fitting for the build and thus I did go for that option for this build showcase. Hide and UMD are highly recommended for this build and shouldn't be exchanged carelessly. Spellcraft is mainly for the endgame invocation Caster's Lament to be able to counterspell.

Flaws:
The main build was initially intended without flaws, but due to circumstances I ended up taken em. There is still a flawless build path in the "alternative build options" section.
Pathetic (-2 STR)
Noncombatant (-2 to melee attacks)

LVL	Class	BAB	For	Ref	Wil	Skills *= double points	Feats *= feat from flaw	Class Features
1st	Warlock	+0	+0	+0	+2	Bluff: 4 Disguise: 4 Spot: 4 UMD: 4 Spellcraft: 4	Spell Focus (Illusion) *Shadow Weave Magic *Insidious Magic	Eldritch Blast 1d6 Summon Swarm
2nd	Warlock	+1	+0	+0	+3	Bluff: 5 Disguise: 5 Spot: 5 UMD: 5 Spellcraft: 5		Detect Magic
3rd	Warlock	+2	+1	+1	+3	Bluff: 6 Disguise: 6 Spot: 6 UMD: 6 Spellcraft: 6	Greater Spell Focus (Illusion)	Eldritch Blast 2d6 DR 1/cold iron Entropic Warding
4th	Warlock	+3	+1	+1	+4	Bluff: 7 Disguise: 7 Spot: 7 UMD: 7 Spellcraft: 7		Deceive Item See the Unseen
5th	Warlock	+3	+1	+1	+4	Bluff: 8 Disguise: 8 Spot: 8 UMD: 8 Spellcraft: 8		Eldritch Blast 3d6
6th	Warlock	+4	+2	+2	+5	Bluff: 9 Disguise: 9 Spot: 9 UMD: 9 Spellcraft: 9	Sanctum Spell	Summon Swarm > Baleful Utterance Wall of Gloom
7th	Shadowcrafter	+4	+2	+2	+7	Hide: 5		Eldritch Blast 4d6 Shadow Mien (+2 bonus to Disguise & Hide)
8th	Shadowcrafter	+5	+2	+2	+8	Hide: 10		Enhanced Shadow Conjurations +10% Flee the Scene
9th	Shadowcrafter	+5	+3	+3	+8	Hide: 12 Spellcraft: 10 UMD: 10*	Heighten Spell-like Ability (Wall of Gloom) retraining @lvl12 into (Flee the Scene)	Shadow Spell Penetration +2
10th	Shadowcraft Mage	+5	+3	+3	+10	Hide: 13 UMD: 13*		Cloak of Shadow Walk Unseen
11th	Shadowcraft Mage	+6	+3	+3	+11	Bluff: 13 Hide: 14 UMD: 14*		Silent Illusion Wall of Gloom > Charm Nightmares Made Real
12th	Shadowcraft Mage	+6	+4	+4	+11	Bluff: 15 Hide: 15 Spellcraft: 11 UMD: 15*	Darkstalker	Shadow Illusion
13th	Shadowcraft Mage	+7	+4	+4	+12	Bluff: 16 Hide: 16 Spellcraft: 14 UMD: 16*		Extend Illusion Devil's Whispers
14th	Shadowcraft Mage	+7	+4	+4	+12	Bluff: 17 Hide: 17 Spellcraft: 17 UMD: 17*		Powerful Shadow Magic
15th	Shadowcrafter	+8	+4	+4	+13	Hide: 18* Spellcraft: 18 UMD: 18*	Supernatural Transformation (Flee the Scene)	Enhanced Shadow Evocation +10% Warlock's Call
16th	Shadowcrafter	+8	+4	+4	+13	Hide: 19* Spellcraft: 19 UMD: 19*		Resistance to Illusions Walk Unseen > Fell Flight Retributive Invisibility
17th	Shadowcrafter	+9	+5	+5	+14	Hide: 20* Spellcraft: 20 UMD: 20*		Enhanced Shadow Conjurations +20%
18th	Shadowcrafter	+9	+5	+5	+14	Hide: 21* Spellcraft: 21 UMD: 21*	Ability Focus (Flee the Scene)	Enhanced Shadow Evocations +20% Dark Foresight
19th	Shadowcrafter	+10	+5	+5	+15	Hide: 22* Spellcraft: 22 UMD: 22*		Shadow Spell Penetration +4
20th	Shadowcrafter	+10	+6	+6	+15	Hide: 23* Spellcraft: 23 UMD: 23*		No Delusion Caster's Lament

Spoiler: Rule Explanations

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SLA and compatibility to Spells

While this might not be obvious to everybody, SLA can profit from almost anything Spells can profit from due to the following SLA rule:

In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell

Since no specific exceptions are made by the general SLA rules to not "count as casting a spell", this sentence grants full functionality like a "spell" (which includes the casting rules for spells, except as noted by the SLA rules).

Thurbane reminded me of the following quote from Complete Arcane P.7:

Since spell-like abilities are not actually spells, a warlock cannot benefit from the Spell Focus feat.

While this may sound like a no to many things at first glance, it does not by RAW.
The way the sentence is formulated, it doesn't establish a new rule.
It refers to "assumed" general rules and draws a conclusion from that.
But the general rules don't back up this statement and is in conflict with it. As shown above, SLA work like Spells in any way except as noted in the general SLA rules.
Sure, more specific things like e.g. the Share Spell ability of Familiars and Animal Companions can specifically exclude SLA. But that is not what the text in Complete Arcane is doing. Here we have a conclusion based of wrongly assumed general SLA rules. Thanks to the Primary Source Rule, this senctence in Complete Arcane has no persmission to make changes. It has the same problem as the quote from Complete Warrior about PRC. Both make wrong assumtions.

To give you another evidance why this sentence has to be wrong:
Complete Arcane claims that Warlocks can legally qualify and use "Sudden Metamagic"-feats. Lets have a look at the typical wording in such a feat:

Benefit

Once per day, you can apply the effect of the Empower Spell feat to any spell you cast without increasing the level of the spell or specially preparing it ahead of time. You can still use Empower Spell normally if you have it

As you can see, Sudden Empower requires you to "cast a spell", which the other statement tried to deny.
But the general SLA rules tell us that SLA function like spells. As such they have to be compatible like spells. Which basically means SLA count as casting spells unless there is an explicit call out against it. (wrong assumed general rules are not an explicit call out).

Conclusion:
Warlock can make use of Spell Focus and even metamagic feats. The latter (metamagic feats) are limited to those who work without spellslot lvl changes, since that is something SLA can't provide to fuel the benefit. But those metamagic feats that don't change the spellslots lvl like Insidious Magic and Sanctum Spell should be legal according to the general SLA rules. This is also what allows the warlock to profit from Shadow Illusions.

Warlocks and qualifying for PRC

SLA can qualify for spellcasting requirements if specific spells are required. Both used PRC require Illusions and shadow Illusion spells. These are more specific than general spellcasting requirement and thus should be legal options.

Dissecting the mechanics of Flee the Scene

Flee the Scene (FtS) effectively casts limited versions of Dimension Door and Major Image. Take the sorcerer's spell Arcane Fusion (AF) as a similar example. AF also effectively casts 2 spells from the sorcerer's spell list. It is heavily recommended that all spells keep their normal poperties and interaction. Otherwise you would end up with things like Illusions not being Illusions anymore and bypassing Ture Sight and that is definively not the intention here. Further, if we take the Primary Source Rule, neither FtS nor AF make explicit call outs to trump the general rules for those spells in that regard. "No Specific Exception = No Change".
For this build this means that the Major Image from FtS still qualifies as Major Image figment illusion as normal for the Shadow Illusion ability.

Warlocks have innate SLA

This is important to qualify for Supernatural Transformation. Note that "Innate" ain't defined by RAW.
As warlock we qualify for that by:

By harnessing his innate magical gift ...

&

Background: Warlocks are born, not made.

Spoiler: 1-5

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We start out as a simple warlock. Summon Swarm is a standard action as invocation and thus much more reliable. The dmg comes at the end of the turn, which allows you to recast it every turn and have full control where they spawn and do their swarm attack dmg. This will easily carry us trough the early levels. Entropic Warding gives us some ranged misschance and allows us to leave no trails to be tracked. See the Unseen is for general purposes.

Insidious Magic will make it extra hard for enemy casters to detect our Illusions (that we get later..^^) via divination magic (caster level check). Thus See Invisible/True Seeing might not reveal the (later) invisible (and hiding) gnome.

Spoiler: 6-10

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The dmg of Summon Swarm starts to fall off and thus we exchange it for Baleful Utterance (Shatter). This is a handy tool if you know how to abuse it (open locks/doors; destroy important enemy items/devices; distraction...). If you don't like it, you can pick something else or stick to Summon Swarm.
Wall of Gloom combined with Sanctum Spell helps us to fulfill the requirements for Shadowcrafter (3rd lvl shadow illusion).
With Flee the Scene we have another important pice to enter Shadowcraft Mage (note the gnome SLA Ghost Sound as another illusion).
Shadow Cloak allows our gnome to Hide in non-daylight areas and provides him with an increasing misschance. For that we have started to put point into Hide.
Walk Unseen gives us another layer of deception to remain unnoticed and boosts our Hide checks even further.
For Heighten SLA we first select Wall of Gloom as target SLA. This way we have now temporary access to a 4th lvl shadow spell to enter Shadowcraft Mage. Later at lvl 12 we retrain the feat to target Flee the Scene. If you dislike "retraining" delay the first lvl of Shadowcraft Mage to 12 (and use Nightmares Made Real to enter) and also move Heighten SLA (FtS) to lvl 12.

Spoiler: 11-15

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Nightmares Made Real's (standard action) main purpose is to provide this build with HIPS in daylight areas where the Shadow Cloak fails (free action & unlimited duration). The crowd-control is just the icing here.
Darkstalker ensures that we can also Hide against stuff with exceptional vision forms. It also limits the perception rolls to the higher DC of Hide and Listen, perfect for our gnome who sole relies on Hide.
Since Wall of Gloom has become pointless, we exchange it for Charm which is more fitting for this build. Charm at will ensures that you always have at least one friend and leads to all kinds of abuse^^
Devil's Whisper brings the abuse potential of the build to new heights. Now we can spam Suggestion at will while being invisible and hiding around the victims.
Warlock's Call ensures that we can communicate all important information with all allies (including NPCs). This further refines our tools as a scout.
Supernatural Transformation changes Flee the Scene into a "Supernatural Ability" (SU). This allows it (and any possible Shadow Illusion) to bypass Spell Resistance. Imho a very strong aspect of the build.

Shadow Illusion:
This is the main combo of the build. But lets first clear the pile of rules to explain how this works. The ability never requires you to "cast a spell". It works on any of the mention illusion effects. Flee the Scene's main effect consists of 2 partial effects, Dimension Door and Mayor Image. Think of this like the sorcerer's spell Arcane Fusion. The 2 spells still keep all their properties and interactions they normally have. As such the "Major Image" effect qualifies as "major image figment" to be altered by this ability. This means we have effectively access to Shadow Conjuration and Shadow Summoning with a 4th lvl figment, thus up to 3rd lvl spells. With a wand of Acorn of Far Travel and Sanctum Spell (more info in the item section) we can raise the figments lvl up to 5th lvl and thus get up to 4th lvl spells in return. Combined with Heighten SLA this allows us to raise the effective figment lvl up to lvl 7 (and cast up to 6th lvl shadow illusions) for up to 3 times per day.
This allows for all kinds of cheesy stuff. And with Shadow Summoning we can even stay invisible if we want, while still having a great offense and defense.

Spoiler: 16-20

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Ability Focus (FtS) will give the build another +2 to the DC. Together with Greater Spell Focus Illusion (+2), Shadow Weave Magic (+1) and being a gnome (+1) we are looking at a total increase of +6 to our Shadow Illusion DCs.

With Retributive Invisibility we can remain invisible while having full access to our offensive abilities. Walk Unseen has become pointless and thus gets exchanged to Fell Flight. With that our mobility has further improved, as well as the amount of possible squares/cubes we can possibly be hiding in.

Dark Foresight ensures that nothing bad happens to our lil gnome. He is always aware of possible threats and will never be surprised. It further allows for free action telepathy with nearby participants (compared to the standard action we would otherwise need for Warlock's Call, which remains useful as longer distance communication form).

As final invocation we can chose Caster's Lament. Since we have maxed Spellcraft, we can use it also to Counterspell and not sole for dispelling enchantments. The enemy casters have a hard time to detect us and we can Counterspell any of their spells at will. This should give us the edge against nasty casters.
The build has accumulated an additional +40% for its Shadow Illusions. With that and Heighten SLA we can reach up to 100% dmg against disbelievers.

Spoiler: Recommended Magic Items

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Besides from the obvious CHA boosts (+5 wish; +6 CHA cloak) and other common stuff (anything that increases caster lvl: orange Ioun stone, ring of arcane magic..), the following items are of interest for this build.

I also wanted to point out here that warlocks are the sole class that can reliably UMD magic items with ongoing effects, due to their take-10 ability for UMD. Everybody else has to face a permanent 5% chance to roll a natural one once per hour per (ongoing) magic item (= 24 rolls per day per UMD-item). And if he rolls a natural one the item can't be used with UMD for the next 24h! This makes ongoing items that require you to wear em for 24h to function near impossible for anyone but warlocks. Thus I mentioned some items here (Horseshoes of Flame, Monk's Tattoo, Wild Shape Amulet;)

Wand: Acorn of Far Travel (source)
You cast this spell upon an acorn that is still attached to a living oak tree. As long as you carry the acorn , you are considered to be standing under that oak tree's canopy. We select the oak tree as our "Sanctum"(feat). This allows us for to abuse the feat for the duration of the spell (1day per caster lvl). Try to get a 20th caster lvl wand to lessen the times you need to go back to the tree to refresh the spell. If you intent to travel far away from the tree, it is recommend to buy yourself a pair of Boots of Teleportation (3/day). With these you can always easily get to your tree and back if needed.

Boots of Teleportation + Horseshoes of Flame
If you can sweet talk your DM into a custom pair of these, you are lucky. The teleportation (3/day) is nice for the Acorn wand combo and easy travel overall. The horseshoes can be used via UMD to provide nice untyped ability bonuses (+2 DEX, +10 INT, +6 CHA) and a nightmarish look.

(opional) Monk's Tattoo
When you UMD this and pretend to be a monk, you can get the unarmed dmg (not the ability sole the dmg), movement speed and AC bonus of a monk (roll UMD -20 +4 from the item to calculate your effective monk lvl). The most fitting benefit here is the movement speed bonus for this build.

(optional) Wild Shape Amulet
Another ongoing magic item that sole warlock can really abuse. This one has 2 effects. The first adds +4 to your Wild Shape ability, the second gives you the Wild Shape ability as 5th lvl druid if you shouldn't already have it. Nothing in the items description prevents both effects to be active at the same time. As such you can pretend to be a druid of "X.th lvl" to get the +4HD bonus and also get the Wild Shape ability as a 5th lvl druid (since you don't have it). The second effect gives the ability while the first effect increases your effective HD by your UMD roll (-20) +4. Now you have the Wild Shape ability of a 20th lvl druid (hardcap on the item).

(optional) Robe of Mysterious Conjuration
3/day spent a spell slot for Summon Monsters of the same lvl. UMD the spellslots to get up to SM IX. Not gamebreaking but still nice to have and fits with the shadow summons to some degree.

(optional) Wand: Santum Spell - Arcane Fusion
This is not build specific and not really required. But since we have Sanctum Spell, it can be possible to find a wand crafter with access to Arcane Fusion. As shown in my previous Croesus build, we can UMD "sorcerer spells known". This allows for a very flexible and action efficient wand.

(optional) Rod of Absorbtion
Again, not mandatory and not build specific. It absorbs any targeted spells/SLAs at you, up to 50 charges. The charges can then be spent to cast spells from any spontaneous caster's list via UMDing their spells known. While the rod can sole be charged once (50 charges) and thus is an expensive "consumable", imho it is still worth it (if you play at such high optimization). As warlock, we can also charge it up at will with our Eldritch Blast, if we want some charges.

Spoiler: Alternate Build Options

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There are some nice alternate build options. Depending on your playstyle, these may be more fitting for you. The general build focuses on the escapee nature of this build, while the other options focus on other stuff.


1) Flawless Build path
Race: Human / Strongheart Halfling
Feats:
1: Spell Focus (Illusion)
1B: Greater Spell Focus (Illusion
3: Sudden Extend
6: Sanctum Spell
9: Heighten SLA (Wall of Gloom) (again, retrain at lvl 12 to FtS. If you dislike it, delay the feat and Shadowcraft Mage to lvl 12 as in the main build)
12: Darkstalker
15: Shadow Weave Magic
18: Insidious Magic
This build path relies on the non-gnome adaptation of Shadowcraft Mage. That is the main reason why I didn't used this as main build path.



2) PRC Options
Mindbender 1
Mindsight (feat)

Exchange a lvl of Shadowcrafter and take Mindsight instead of one of the other talents. This option is more for those that want to focus on the scouting aspect of this build.


3) Racial Options
Race: Whisper Gnome (note the -2 to CHA..)
Extra Silence
Martial Study (any shadow hand maneuver)
Martial Stance: Assassin Stance
Silencing Strike
Eldritch Glaive

For this build option we first need to be a Whisper Gnome. The Darkstalker feat moves to lvl 6. We need to drop the 4 remaining non prerequisite feats (anything that is not Improved -/ Spell Focus). This delays the entry into Shadowcraft Mage to lvl 12 (since we now have to rely sole on Nightmares Made Real as 4th+ lvl shadow spell to qualify).
In exchange we can now use the whisper gnome's Silence SLA 3 + CHA times per day. Further we can apply the Silence as part of a sneak attack which bypasses the victims save roll! Eldritch Glaive can help to easily apply it (due to being a melee touch attack). This build option is more anti-mage themed, if you expect a lot of caster enemies and your team otherwise lacks a counter against caster. Maybe even take a flaw to squeeze in Supernatural Transformation (Silence SLA > SU) and make the Silence even bypass SR.

END:

We reached the end of this silly build. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
We are looking at a very hard to detect gnome with a high mobility due to flying and dimension door at will. Run around your enemies and spam Charm & Devil's Whispers until you solve any encounter (A wand of tongues could be helpful here). Or just spam the maincombo for infinite shadow conjurations and summonings.

I appreciate any kind of feedback you have.
- What do you think about the build and the rules?
- What is your favorite build path, the original one or one of the alternatives?
- Any suggestions to improve the build or to add alternate build options?

*As always, I (and hopefully you too) will check for errors and if I have missed anything that I wanted to mention. So, potential updates may follow..

[Promethean]

I vote that it be made mandatory that this build takes a version of "nightmares made real" that plays Can't touch this on loop whenever they enter combat.

[Gruftzwerg]

I vote that it be made mandatory that this build takes a version of "nightmares made real" that plays Can't touch this on loop whenever they enter combat.

^^ I agree on that.

The build also reminded me of a gnome in the World of Warcraft machinima Illegal Danish: "Do you wanna join my guild?" (he is spamming Devil's Whispers to suggest everyone to join his guild^^).

I guess that means that you enjoyed the build?^^

[Rebel7284]

SLA and (Greater) Spell Focus: While this might not be obvious to everybody, SLA do profit from this feat due to the following SLA rule:

In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell

Since no specific exceptions are made by the SLA rules to not "count as casting a spell", this sentence grants full functionality like a "spell" (which includes the casting rules for spells, except as noted by the SLA rules).

I have not seen this in the past, but re-reading the specific wording, this seems to check out. Nifty. I think it should be its own sub-section (not under levels 1-5) since this ruling is relevant at many levels

Choose one of your spell-like abilities

--
Special

This feat can be taken multiple times. Each time, you apply it to a different one of your spell-like abilities.

It looks like you're trying to apply Heighten SLA to Flee the Scene, but you take Flee the Scene two levels after. Easy fix by just changing the feat order, take Sanctum Spell first!

But wait! Sanctum Spell requires any other metamagic feat as a prerequisite, so you just don't qualify for it at all from what I see.


Besides the minor concerns about qualifications that can be adjusted pretty easily my main issue with the build is the really strange power curve.

- It starts off like a regular Warlock, which is somewhere between Tier 3 and Tier 4, although having to spend a bunch of feats on prerequisites doesn't help the early levels and probably pushes you to tier 4.
- At character level 11 it jumps to high Tier 1, casting a few level 6 spells like a level 11 Wizard while also having infinite lower level spells in addition to other Warlock abilities.
- At later levels, your power doesn't really grow. Sure your reality percentage improves a bit and you can use your growing WBL + UMD to get more abilities, but you're kinda stuck with spamming 4th level spells which slowly get less and less impressive.
- At level 20, you're probably a solid tier 3.

What is your favorite build path, the original one or one of the alternatives?

- Mindbender dip is always great whenever you have a free feat for mindsight. With that said, you're kinda feat starved, so maybe if you have access to flaws?
- The Whisper Gnome suggestion is not the best IMO. If you're spamming SLAs, you probably want to be far away from your opponents most of the time, not full attacking them on a frail chassis with terrible BAB. Glaivelock+Silencing Strike can certainly be a thing, but I feel like it would be a very different build with more access to persisted Divine Power and such.

[Gruftzwerg]

I have not seen this in the past, but re-reading the specific wording, this seems to check out. Nifty. I think it should be its own sub-section (not under levels 1-5) since this ruling is relevant at many levels

Hm.. dunno. I thought it would be better to have the rules there when they come into play and not elsewhere. But maybe I take it out of the 1-5 spoiler and squeeze it in before the 6-10 spoiler. I'll think about that. Thx for your suggestion.

It looks like you're trying to apply Heighten SLA to Flee the Scene, but you take Flee the Scene two levels after. Easy fix by just changing the feat order, take Sanctum Spell first!

But wait! Sanctum Spell requires any other metamagic feat as a prerequisite, so you just don't qualify for it at all from what I see.

Oh, I see... good catch..^^
But at least Heighten SLA is fixable via "retraining". At lvl 6 we take Heighten SLA for Wall of Gloom and later retrain it to Flee the Scene. Note that the SLA selected is not part of the "Requirements" but part of the "Benefit:". Thus, the retraining is legal, since it sole cares if you would have qualified for the "Requirements:" at that level, and not if the feats "Benefit:" would have been legal at that level. Cheesy I know, but we are talking about TO here, so it should be OK imho.
I'll save this for the update, when I have more time. And maybe there are other things to add..^^

Edit: I have to look what to make out of Sanctum spell ... hmm.. maybe I have to drop it (in favor for one of the other feats). I always forget that the SLA meta-like feats are not metafeats..

Besides the minor concerns about qualifications that can be adjusted pretty easily my main issue with the build is the really strange power curve.

- It starts off like a regular Warlock, which is somewhere between Tier 3 and Tier 4, although having to spend a bunch of feats on prerequisites doesn't help the early levels and probably pushes you to tier 4.
- At character level 11 it jumps to high Tier 1, casting a few level 6 spells like a level 11 Wizard while also having infinite lower level spells in addition to other Warlock abilities.
- At later levels, your power doesn't really grow. Sure your reality percentage improves a bit and you can use your growing WBL + UMD to get more abilities, but you're kinda stuck with spamming 4th level spells which slowly get less and less impressive.
- At level 20, you're probably a solid tier 3.

I agree on the strange power curve. But imho the build still remains at the lower end of T2 at the later levels. There is not much what can pierce through his Hide + Gr. Invisibility combo (+ Darkstalker + Insidious Magic). Charm + Suggestion are both always strong over all levels. Due to being at will abilities and the gnome not being locatable, he can spam em until anything not immune to mind-affecting stuff will sooner or later fail its save. And for those who are immune, he can spam summons every round and aid with some evocations along. Scouting and social skills remain very good at all levels. Sure the spell power remains the same at the later levels (except the new warlock stuff). But Tiers are about the flexibility to solve problems and not sole fighting/spell power. And if you are afraid of other spellcasters, Supernatural Transformation (Flee the Scene) will give you the upper hand in combat (together with the fact that they can't see or locate you).

- Mindbender dip is always great whenever you have a free feat for mindsight. With that said, you're kinda feat starved, so maybe if you have access to flaws?
- The Whisper Gnome suggestion is not the best IMO. If you're spamming SLAs, you probably want to be far away from your opponents most of the time, not full attacking them on a frail chassis with terrible BAB. Glaivelock+Silencing Strike can certainly be a thing, but I feel like it would be a very different build with more access to persisted Divine Power and such.

Mindbender:
This build is kinda a mini-guide. I did go for a general approach for the general showcase and wanted to show some alternate options. The build can work without flaws, but having access to em, greatly increases the build's power lvl imho.

Whisper Gnome:
I had similar thoughts. I also did play with the thought of dipping into Arcane Trickster, but that would have been to much for this build/guide. But I still wanted to mention it since it still an interesting option imho. Maybe a build for another time (or another cook if someone wants to pick up on this idea?).

Thank you for the great feedback and finding out the lil bug. As said, I will include it into the update.

[Troacctid]

There's several rules problems that I'm spotting in this build, but the main one I'm seeing is that you don't qualify for Heighten Spell-Like Ability at level 6.

[Gruftzwerg]

There's several rules problems that I'm spotting in this build, but the main one I'm seeing is that you don't qualify for Heighten Spell-Like Ability at level 6.

Spell-like ability at caster level 6th or higher,

I don't see what you mean? I doesn't require a 6th level spell. It sole requires a SLA with caster level 6. Any warlock SLA qualifies for that at lvl 6.

edit: Oh I see now what you meant:

The spell-like ability you wish to heighten can be chosen only from those abilities that duplicate a spell of a level less than or equal to 1/2 your caster level (round down), minus 2.

I guess I need to delay it. hm... the update will become more of a hassle as I thought I guess..^^

[Troacctid]

I don't see what you mean? I doesn't require a 6th level spell. It sole requires a SLA with caster level 6. Any warlock SLA qualifies for that at lvl 6.

CL 6 is required to select a 1st level SLA, but CL 8 is required for a 2nd level SLA, or CL 10 for a 3rd level SLA, and so on. It says so in the feat.

[Gruftzwerg]

CL 6 is required to select a 1st level SLA, but CL 8 is required for a 2nd level SLA, or CL 10 for a 3rd level SLA, and so on. It says so in the feat.

Yeah I did saw it in the meanwhile. Thx for pointing it out. I should read the feat descriptions more often and not sole the short tables..^^

[Rebel7284]

Hm.. dunno. I thought it would be better to have the rules there when they come into play and not elsewhere. But maybe I take it out of the 1-5 spoiler and squeeze it in before the 6-10 spoiler. I'll think about that. Thx for your suggestion.

Or just have it as the very first section? *shrug*

Oh, I see... good catch..^^
But at least Heighten SLA is fixable via "retraining". At lvl 6 we take Heighten SLA for Wall of Gloom and later retrain it to Flee the Scene. Note that the SLA selected is not part of the "Requirements" but part of the "Benefit:". Thus, the retraining is legal, since it sole cares if you would have qualified for the "Requirements:" at that level, and not if the feats "Benefit:" would have been legal at that level. Cheesy I know, but we are talking about TO here, so it should be OK imho.
I'll save this for the update, when I have more time. And maybe there are other things to add..^^

Eh? I think giving TO options is important, but having practical optimization in the build itself is better to make it potentially applicable to more games. Retraining is pretty cheesy as you said.

With that said, it looks that while I was writing this, Troacctid discovered even more issues with Heighten SLA, so it might need to come later anyway.

Edit: I have to look what to make out of Sanctum spell ... hmm.. maybe I have to drop it (in favor for one of the other feats). I always forget that the SLA meta-like feats are not metafeats..

Actually, wait, how are you applying a metamagic feat to an SLA again? Are use applying the same logic as Spell Focus?

Certainly impacts the overall power of the build since spamming 3rd level spells is a significant downgrade.

Anyway, there are probably ways to get a few extra feats in there. Just being a human or stongheart halfling and using "member of a cabal" adaptation of ScM would work, or some prestige classes with a bonus domain -> Planning or something like that.

I agree on the strange power curve. But imho the build still remains at the lower end of T2 at the later levels. There is not much what can pierce through his Hide + Gr. Invisibility combo (+ Darkstalker + Insidious Magic). Charm + Suggestion are both always strong over all levels. Due to being at will abilities and the gnome not being locatable, he can spam em until anything not immune to mind-affecting stuff will sooner or later fail its save. And for those who are immune, he can spam summons every round and aid with some evocations along. Scouting and social skills remain very good at all levels. Sure the spell power remains the same at the later levels (except the new warlock stuff). But Tiers are about the flexibility to solve problems and not sole fighting/spell power. And if you are afraid of other spellcasters, Supernatural Transformation (Flee the Scene) will give you the upper hand in combat (together with the fact that they can't see or locate you).

This definitely sounds like high tier 3 to me. Tier system tracks 2 variables, power and flexibility, and while you have a TON of flexibility and being hard to detect is a great defensive boost, you just don't have access to the campaign ending spells outside of UMD.

Thank you for the great feedback and finding out the lil bug. As said, I will include it into the update.

Glad to help, thanks for making a character that was interesting enough for me to dig into.

[Gruftzwerg]

With that said, it looks that while I was writing this, Troacctid discovered even more issues with Heighten SLA, so it might need to come later anyway.

Yeah as it seems, I need to use flaws and rearrange some things. I am working on it and have multiple solutions, just need to pick one and do the changes. (I think the update will come maybe tomorrow if I find enough time)

Actually, wait, how are you applying a metamagic feat to an SLA again? Are use applying the same logic as Spell Focus?

Certainly impacts the overall power of the build since spamming 3rd level spells is a significant downgrade.

Anyway, there are probably ways to get a few extra feats in there. Just being a human or stongheart halfling and using "member of a cabal" adaptation of ScM would work, or some prestige classes with a bonus domain -> Planning or something like that.

There is no real rule that forbids the use of metamagic feats with SLA. Complete Arcane just mentions some example and "under which conditions they work"(!). Sudden Metamagic is given as an example, which are metamagic feats that work with SLA since they "don't require any spellslot changes".
Combined with the before mentioned general SLA rule "to work like a spell", this means that you can use any metamagic that doesn't require spellslot changes. (E.g. Insidious Magic & Sanctum Spell in this build).

Complete Arcane just explains what is already there: "the general SLA rules and what this means for spell altering feats by base 3.5 logic."

This definitely sounds like high tier 3 to me. Tier system tracks 2 variables, power and flexibility, and while you have a TON of flexibility and being hard to detect is a great defensive boost, you just don't have access to the campaign ending spells outside of UMD.

Debatable, but I don't wanna argue to much about that. It's just that imho most people don't give the "at will" power of the warlock enough credit. Have you ever played a game with a warlock just overusing Devil's Whispers? Do you know how much havoc this can cause to the game/plot? But maybe that is better measured by "the Henderson Scale of Plot Derailment"..^^

Glad to help, thanks for making a character that was interesting enough for me to dig into.

Yeah you are all a great help. Thank also to troacctid for finding out the bug. As said, update will follow as soon as I find some time.

[Thurbane]

I have not seen this in the past, but re-reading the specific wording, this seems to check out. Nifty. I think it should be its own sub-section (not under levels 1-5) since this ruling is relevant at many levels

From an old thread of mine:

I guess I'll chalk it up to sloppy stat blocks then.

I thought it might be one of the exceptions called out in CArc, but not that I can see.

Actually, double checking Complete Arc, it says the following:

Since spell-like abilities are not actually spells, a warlock cannot benefit from the Spell Focus feat.

Seems pretty air tight.

Definitely poor stat block design, then. I shouldn't be surprised.

[Gruftzwerg]

From an old thread of mine:

I am/was aware of that quote in Complete Arcane, but imho it is making a wrong assumptions about the general rules here.
The general rules for SLA grant the permission, and Complete Arcane doesn't try to establish new rules here from its wording.

A wrong reference doesn't make a rule. It's on the same level as the quote about PRC in Complete Warrior. Thankfully we have the Primary Source Rule that covers these kind of problems for us and gets rid of wrong rule references and assumptions.

(EDIT: I mean, how are Sudden Metamagic feats gonna work if SLA don't qualify as "spells"...^^)


I've forgotten about the quote during the writeup and will include it into the rules section for (Gr.) Spell Focus. Thx for reminding me.
________________________________


Slowly but steadily we gather the missing pieces for the build('s update..^^). Again, thx everybody for your help to spot possible bugs.

Feedback is still welcome =)

[Curbludgeon]

Having looked at a few of the OP's threads, I get the impression they're repeatedly using the term "TO" so as to convince people, perhaps including themselves, that the thread content qualifies as such.

[Gruftzwerg]

Having looked at a few of the OP's threads, I get the impression they're repeatedly using the term "TO" so as to convince people, perhaps including themselves, that the thread content qualifies as such.

1)
Imho it's rude to go into a thread, and start a conversation with everybody else (as if the OP ain't there) to discredit him. I'm here and I don't bite. You can talk to me directly if you have a problem with my interpretation.

2)
If you see a problem with how I interpret TO (Theoretical Optimization), how about you present your interpretation along? Otherwise it looks like a rant and feels sole provocative and doesn't help any discussion. (the purpose of this forum: to discuss 3.5 stuff and not to discuss people)

If you wanna discuss what TO is and if this build falls under that interpretation, I'll be waiting here for a more detailed explanation of what you think TO is and why this build doesn't qualify in your opinion.

___________________


Happy New Year to everyone

[Pezzo]

I'm not sure a warlock can meet the requirements for shadowcrafter and shadowcraft mage, in complete arcane page 18 it says that a warlock cannot qualify for prestige classes with spellcasting level requirements, and both of those prestige classes require to be able to cast spells of a certain level.

[Gruftzwerg]

I'm not sure a warlock can meet the requirements for shadowcrafter and shadowcraft mage, in complete arcane page 18 it says that a warlock cannot qualify for prestige classes with spellcasting level requirements, and both of those prestige classes require to be able to cast spells of a certain level.

There is an exception when it comes to "Specific Spell Requirements".
Have a look at the paragraph on page 72 in Complete Arcane.

Both Shadowcrafter and Shadowcraft Mage have specific spell requirements (Illusion and shadow spells) and thus can be theoretically entered by SLA users like a warlock. The requirement doesn't need to specify a single spell, just a more specific requirement than the general spellcaster/ing lvl. And both PRC's requirement does qualify for that.

I hope i could clear up your doubts^^
If not, let me know.

Maybe I should add a small rule info box upon this topic into the update.
________


Update is getting delayed. I'm a bit short on free time, but hopefully it will be done in the next days...

[Oblivionsmurf]

Shadow Illusion:
This is the main combo of the build. But lets first clear the pile of rules to explain how this works. The ability never requires you to "cast a spell". It works on any of the mention illusion effects. Flee the Scene's main effect consists of 2 partial effects, Dimension Door and Mayor Image. Think of this like the sorcerer's spell Arcane Fusion. The 2 spells still keep all their properties and interactions they normally have. As such the "Major Image" effect qualifies as "major image figment" to be altered by this ability. This means we have effectively access to Shadow Conjuration and Shadow Summoning with a 4th lvl figment, thus up to 3rd lvl spells. With a wand of Acorn of Far Travel and Sanctum Spell (more info in the item section) we can raise the figments lvl up to 5th lvl and thus get up to 4th lvl spells in return. Combined with Heighten SLA this allows us to raise the effective figment lvl up to lvl 7 (and cast up to 6th lvl shadow illusions) for up to 3 times per day.
This allows for all kinds of cheesy stuff. And with Shadow Summoning we can even stay invisible if we want, while still having a great offense and defense.

How do you address all the references to spells in the description of Shadow Illusion?

Shadow Illusion (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a shadowcraft mage is able to infuse some of her figments (see the list below) with material from the Plane of Shadow, making them partially real. The subschool of these spells changes from figment to shadow. A shadowcraft mage can use the altered spell to mimic any sorcerer or wizard conjuration (summoning), conjuration (creation), or evocation spell at least one level lower than the illusion spell. The altered spell functions identically to the shadow conjuration or shadow evocation spell, except that the spellÂ’s strength equals 10% per level of the figment spell used.

For example, a shadowcraft mage who uses silent image to create an acid splash would deal 10% of the normal damage to a creature that succeeds on its Will save to disbelieve the shadow. If she used programmed image to mimic summon monster V, the creature would have 60% of the hit points of a normal creature of its kind, and its damage would be 60% normal against a creature that succeeds on its Will save to disbelieve.

A shadowcraft mage can apply shadow illusion to any of the following figment spells: silent image, minor image, major image, persistent image, and programmed image.

Are you capable of applying Shadow Illusion to an effect that is not a spell if the description itself states that it can only be applied to one of a number of discrete spells?

[Gruftzwerg]

How do you address all the references to spells in the description of Shadow Illusion?

Shadow Illusion (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a shadowcraft mage is able to infuse some of her figments (see the list below) with material from the Plane of Shadow, making them partially real. The subschool of these spells changes from figment to shadow. A shadowcraft mage can use the altered spell to mimic any sorcerer or wizard conjuration (summoning), conjuration (creation), or evocation spell at least one level lower than the illusion spell. The altered spell functions identically to the shadow conjuration or shadow evocation spell, except that the spellÂ’s strength equals 10% per level of the figment spell used.

For example, a shadowcraft mage who uses silent image to create an acid splash would deal 10% of the normal damage to a creature that succeeds on its Will save to disbelieve the shadow. If she used programmed image to mimic summon monster V, the creature would have 60% of the hit points of a normal creature of its kind, and its damage would be 60% normal against a creature that succeeds on its Will save to disbelieve.

A shadowcraft mage can apply shadow illusion to any of the following figment spells: silent image, minor image, major image, persistent image, and programmed image.

Are you capable of applying Shadow Illusion to an effect that is not a spell if the description itself states that it can only be applied to one of a number of discrete spells?

It boils down to this sentence under the general SLA rules:

In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell

The SLA functions like a spell except as noted in the general SLA rules. So unless you can find a statement in the general SLA rules that would deny this interaction, it is legal and works.

Finally, Shadow Illusion also lacks a "specific call out" to trump that general SLA rule, that "SLA function like a spell".

To give you an example of such a call out: Have a look at the Share Spell ability of Familiars and Animal Companions. Both make a specific call out to exclude SLA to function like Spells for their specific niche of rules.

Share Spells: At the master's option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his familiar. ...

Share Spells (Ex): At the druid's option, she may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) she casts upon herself also affect her animal companion. ...

As such, the general SLA rules has to be applied here: "to function just like a spell".

[redking]

Spoiler: quote by oblivionsmurf

Show

QUOTE=Oblivionsmurf;25669382]How do you address all the references to spells in the description of Shadow Illusion?

Shadow Illusion (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a shadowcraft mage is able to infuse some of her figments (see the list below) with material from the Plane of Shadow, making them partially real. The subschool of these spells changes from figment to shadow. A shadowcraft mage can use the altered spell to mimic any sorcerer or wizard conjuration (summoning), conjuration (creation), or evocation spell at least one level lower than the illusion spell. The altered spell functions identically to the shadow conjuration or shadow evocation spell, except that the spellÂ’s strength equals 10% per level of the figment spell used.

For example, a shadowcraft mage who uses silent image to create an acid splash would deal 10% of the normal damage to a creature that succeeds on its Will save to disbelieve the shadow. If she used programmed image to mimic summon monster V, the creature would have 60% of the hit points of a normal creature of its kind, and its damage would be 60% normal against a creature that succeeds on its Will save to disbelieve.

A shadowcraft mage can apply shadow illusion to any of the following figment spells: silent image, minor image, major image, persistent image, and programmed image.

Are you capable of applying Shadow Illusion to an effect that is not a spell if the description itself states that it can only be applied to one of a number of discrete spells?[/QUOTE]

This looks like it's in ask your DM territory. Its one thing to ask the DM to use these invocations to qualify for shadowcraft mage, and another to allow Flee the Scene to count as a figment spell for purposes of shadow illusion.

Like you say, the spells allowed under shadow illusion are specified. Even if Flee the Scene has a similar function to major image, it's not major image and doesn't qualify under the rules as ordinarily understood. Obviously a DM could allow it, but why?

[Gruftzwerg]

...

This looks like it's in ask your DM territory. Its one thing to ask the DM to use these invocations to qualify for shadowcraft mage, and another to allow Flee the Scene to count as a figment spell for purposes of shadow illusion.

Like you say, the spells allowed under shadow illusion are specified. Even if Flee the Scene has a similar function to major image, it's not major image and doesn't qualify under the rules as ordinarily understood. Obviously a DM could allow it, but why?

I tried to explain the underlying logic here in the build. As said, I don't see any reason to treat Flee the Scene any other than an Arcane Fusion cast by a sorcerer. Both have 2 spells as separate sub-effects.

I assume you wouldn't argue against a Gr. Arcane Fusion - Major Image as target for the Shadow Illusion ability (?).
The subspells still have all their properties and interactions.
(edit: Otherwise I gonna build a Arcane Fusion Illusionist and will argue that they ain't Illusions anymore to bypass True Sight and stuff..^^ I hope you get my point here. I hardy suggest that they keep their properties for sanity's sake)


The same logic should be applying to Flee the Scene (FtS) creating a Major Image effect. And just because FtS has a specific version of Major Image doesn't stop the interaction.
To give a similar example: As divine minion you can get a specific version of the druid's Wild Shape ability. As far as I see it (in the forum), nobody seems to have any problems to use that to qualify/early-entry for "Wild Shape" stuff. Same with Urban Druid's "Urban Shape" to qualify for e.g. Master of Many Forms. Imho a legal interaction. The requirement also covers all "specific options", imho.

Shadow Illusion: "Are you a silent image, minor image, major image, persistent image, or programmed image figment spell?"

FtS - Major Image figment: "I function like a spell (see general SLA rules as mentioned above) and have a (specific) Major Image figment"

Shadow Illusion: "Permission granted to be used." (imho)

[Mordante]

As far as I know an Air-Gnome breathes as normal

Air Gnomes
Air gnomes are identical to standard gnomes, except for some differences in racial traits.

Racial Traits
Air gnomes have the general traits of air races described above and all gnome racial traits, with additions and exceptions as noted below.

+2 Dexterity, −2 Strength: Air gnomes are agile, but lack physical power.
No racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds and goblinoids.
+4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against Large or larger creatures of the earth subtype: This bonus replaces the gnome’s racial bonus to AC against giants.

Nowhere does it state that an air-gnome has the air subtype.

Besides that I would probably never allow this build as a DM. It is way to close to lots of rule breaking/bending.

Also what is the character doing the first 10 to 11 levels? But that is a comment I have for many builds I see on this forum. They are often aimed a high level characters. Most campaigns start at level 1 and can take a long time (years) to reach level 10+

[Oblivionsmurf]

I tried to explain the underlying logic here in the build. As said, I don't see any reason to treat Flee the Scene any other than an Arcane Fusion cast by a sorcerer. Both have 2 spells as separate sub-effects.

I assume you wouldn't argue against a Gr. Arcane Fusion - Major Image as target for the Shadow Illusion ability (?).
The subspells still have all their properties and interactions.
(edit: Otherwise I gonna build a Arcane Fusion Illusionist and will argue that they ain't Illusions anymore to bypass True Sight and stuff..^^ I hope you get my point here. I hardy suggest that they keep their properties for sanity's sake)


The same logic should be applying to Flee the Scene (FtS) creating a Major Image effect. And just because FtS has a specific version of Major Image doesn't stop the interaction.
To give a similar example: As divine minion you can get a specific version of the druid's Wild Shape ability. As far as I see it (in the forum), nobody seems to have any problems to use that to qualify/early-entry for "Wild Shape" stuff. Same with Urban Druid's "Urban Shape" to qualify for e.g. Master of Many Forms. Imho a legal interaction. The requirement also covers all "specific options", imho.

I think there are a few problems with the reasoning here.

• First, Arcane Fusion still involves you casting two spells ('you cast two other spells using this spell's 5th-level spell slot'). You're not casting any spells when you use FtS (the Warlock's description makes it clear that Invocations are not spells). How do you deal with that when the description of Shadow Illusion refers to specific spells that benefit from the ability?
• Second, your Divine Minion example highlights some of the difficulties that I think you will face. Even if you allow Divine Minion to qualify for things that require a 'Wild Shape' ability (e.g. Aberration Wild Shape, which has 'wild shape ability' as a prerequisite), you can't use it to qualify for things that require wild shape as a class feature or class ability (e.g. Planar Shepherd or Exalted Wild Shape). Even if you accept that FtS lets you cast Major Image, it doesn't let you cast it as a spell, which the Shadow Illusion ability seems to require. Your original post dealt with this by saying that the Shadow Illusion 'ability never requires you to "cast a spell"', but I'm not sure that's right for the reasons identified in my earlier post.
• Third, I am not sure why 'Urban Shape' would allow you to qualify for Master of Many Forms. The Urban Druid does not have the wild shape class feature, he has another ability that merely 'functions identically to a druid's wild shape ability'. Nothing in the ability's description allows it to be used to qualify for feats that require Wild Shape (c.f. other feats, such as Evasive Reflexes in Tome of Battle). You have a similar problem with FtS. Even on your Arcane Fusion interpretation, you are casting two spell-like abilities, not two spells.
• Fourth, while I agree that sanity requires you to preserve the spell schools for Arcane Fusion and FtS (to the extent that those schools influence gameplay), that does not overcome the more fundamental problem, which is that Shadow Illusion requires one of a set number of spells to be cast, and you are not casting those spells (even though we can accept for the purpose of the discussion that you are casting spell-like ability versions of those spells).

[Gruftzwerg]

As far as I know an Air-Gnome breathes as normal



Nowhere does it state that an air-gnome has the air subtype.

Besides that I would probably never allow this build as a DM. It is way to close to lots of rule breaking/bending.

Also what is the character doing the first 10 to 11 levels? But that is a comment I have for many builds I see on this forum. They are often aimed a high level characters. Most campaigns start at level 1 and can take a long time (years) to reach level 10+

1) It's a trait all air races do have.

Racial Traits
Air gnomes have the general traits of air races described above and all gnome racial traits, with additions and exceptions as noted below.

Traits of Air Races

All members of air races have the following traits.

- +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against creatures of the earth subtype, including extraplanar creatures from the Elemental Plane of Earth.
- -2 penalty on all saving throws against spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities with the earth subtype or used by creatures of the earth subtype, including extraplanar creatures from the Elemental Plane of Earth.
- Breathless (Ex): Members of air races do not breathe, so they have immunity to drowning, suffocation, and attacks that require inhalation (such as some types of poison).

As said in the build, you don't need to play an Air Gnome, if you don't want to. I just preferred the Ability Score Adjustments and thought that "inhaled poisons" could be a nice niche combo for this build.

2)
And as I said, I don't advertise to play any overoptimized TO/PO build at tables that don't have that optimization aim. It's up to the DM (and imho to some extend the entire table) to decide at which optimization lvl a campaign is set. And it's imho not sole about Tier power, but more about the "at will" power of the warlock which gets a lot more flexibility as normally intended for the base class. So I do see why this build can be problematic for many tables. (Note: I do barely play at such optimization lvls myself. I just like to theorycraft builds).

3)
You are not the first one to mention the strange power curve..^^
But then again, as you said there are more builds with the similar problems. On the other hand I wanna point out again that the first lvls ain't that weak. Summon Swarm as standard action invocation is one of the stronger early game abilities of 3.5. You get 1d6 automatic-hitting dmg on up to 4 targets and force up to 2 saves. While the Distraction ability has a low DC of 11, you spam it ever turn. Even at lvl 5 still an effective 40% chance on most enemies to crowd-control em.
So, imho the drop is more in the 6-11 range. Here you sole have some defensive combat tools. Wall of Gloom can block LoS against ranged enemies (ranged attackers and casters). Flee the Scene can be a great support tool for your team. Remember that you can take other allies with you when you use Dimension Door! You can reposition your allies to help em (e.g. help surrounded squishy ally to escape; reposition your ubercharger ally; enter/leave buildings with your allies whenever you want...).
So, while the offense may be a bit lacking for those levels, the build still has nice abilities to offer for the party. And with getting access to Walk Unseen, the "scout" theme of the build starts to kick in (together with pushing the Hide skill).
Imho it's more a priority shift from being a simple warlock to a more tactical stealthy character, but I do see the breakdown in combat power for the few lvls..

I think there are a few problems with the reasoning here.

• First, Arcane Fusion still involves you casting two spells ('you cast two other spells using this spell's 5th-level spell slot'). You're not casting any spells when you use FtS (the Warlock's description makes it clear that Invocations are not spells). How do you deal with that when the description of Shadow Illusion refers to specific spells that benefit from the ability?
• Second, your Divine Minion example highlights some of the difficulties that I think you will face. Even if you allow Divine Minion to qualify for things that require a 'Wild Shape' ability (e.g. Aberration Wild Shape, which has 'wild shape ability' as a prerequisite), you can't use it to qualify for things that require wild shape as a class feature or class ability (e.g. Planar Shepherd or Exalted Wild Shape). Even if you accept that FtS lets you cast Major Image, it doesn't let you cast it as a spell, which the Shadow Illusion ability seems to require. Your original post dealt with this by saying that the Shadow Illusion 'ability never requires you to "cast a spell"', but I'm not sure that's right for the reasons identified in my earlier post.
• Third, I am not sure why 'Urban Shape' would allow you to qualify for Master of Many Forms. The Urban Druid does not have the wild shape class feature, he has another ability that merely 'functions identically to a druid's wild shape ability'. Nothing in the ability's description allows it to be used to qualify for feats that require Wild Shape (c.f. other feats, such as Evasive Reflexes in Tome of Battle). You have a similar problem with FtS. Even on your Arcane Fusion interpretation, you are casting two spell-like abilities, not two spells.
• Fourth, while I agree that sanity requires you to preserve the spell schools for Arcane Fusion and FtS (to the extent that those schools influence gameplay), that does not overcome the more fundamental problem, which is that Shadow Illusion requires one of a set number of spells to be cast, and you are not casting those spells (even though we can accept for the purpose of the discussion that you are casting spell-like ability versions of those spells).

1st)
Arcane Fusion lets you "effectively cast 2 spells", Flee the Scene does the same imho. I don't see any difference here.
And while "Invocation are not Spells" as you said, the general SLA rules grant full functionality like a spell:

In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell

2nd)
A warlock doesn't need to "cast a spell" to count as "casting a spell" for functionality purposes. It's the same general SLA rule that gives the same functionality as a spell would have (also see my comments about "Spell Focus" and why Complete Arcane is wrong and gets trumped by the general SLA rules here).


3rd)
"Compatibility" is a part of "functionality". If it lacks compatibility, it doesn't function the same..
This is the underlying logic why all those things that "function as X" can "qualify/count as X"
As such, an SLA qualifies for anything that a spell would qualify. Unless you have an explicit call out that says otherwise (see the example I gave about the "Share Spell" ability for Familiars and Animal Companions).

To give a counter example where this is NOT the case (to showcase the opposite): "Weapon-Like Spells"
While these are "like" a weapon for some purposes, nowhere the permission is granted to let em "count or function" fully as a weapon. As such, you are limited to the things given permission to in their specific rules.

The conclusion is imho that anything that grants full functionality has to also be compatible (except as noted in specific exceptions like the Familiar and Animal Companion rules).

4th)

as if you had cast them

You are "effectively" casting em imho in both cases (Arcane Fusion and Flee the Scene).
AF relies on the "as if you had cast them" quote, while FtS relies on the "a spell-like ability functions just like a spell" quote here. Both will effectively cause 2 spell effects to enter the game.
And denying compatibility would only cause weird outcomes (like pretending to bypass True Sight and bla..).
Imho both cases include full compatibility.
And if we follow the Primary Source Rule: Since no more specific exceptions are made by neither AF or FtS, the general rules for any kind of normal interactions of these spells haven't been touched.
No specific exception = No change

__________________

Let me give you all an example text of a Sudden Metamagic feat (remind you: Complete Arcane says that sudden metamagic feats are legal for warlocks):

Benefit

Once per day, you can apply the effect of the Empower Spell feat to any spell you cast without increasing the level of the spell or specially preparing it ahead of time. You can still use Empower Spell normally if you have it

If you deny the compatibility, we sole get more dysfunctions. This is the reason why I claim that the quote about "warlock not being able to use the Spell Focus feat" is garbage. But thankfully we have the Primary Source Rule that forbids wrong references or wrong conclusions from anything outside of the Primary Source of a topic.

As I said in the build, there are a lot of rules to be dissected. Most of the things that have been brought up I had myself at some point in the build crafting process. It's just that I couldn't remember all those at the time of the writeup. It was more than I initially expected and thus I failed to make detailed notes. Sorry for that.
But I did trust the forum's hivemind to aid me here. Thanks again for all your help in that regard ;)

[Gruftzwerg]

Update:
- added flaws (and thus feats) to solve the prerequisite problem the initial build had.
- added flawless alternate build path option
- dumped STR in favor of more INT
- maxed Spellcraft for Counterspelling with Caster's Lament
- added new Rule Explanation section
- added info how warlocks can abuse ongoing magic items with UMD into the Magic Item section and added a few optional items for completeness's sake

I've finally finished the update. Hopefully I didn't forget anything.
I also hope that you like the changes made.

Feedback is still welcome, be it regarding the update or the build itself.
Thank you all for time and interest.

[Oblivionsmurf]

Update:
- added flaws (and thus feats) to solve the prerequisite problem the initial build had.
- added flawless alternate build path option
- dumped STR in favor of more INT
- maxed Spellcraft for Counterspelling with Caster's Lament
- added new Rule Explanation section
- added info how warlocks can abuse ongoing magic items with UMD into the Magic Item section and added a few optional items for completeness's sake

I've finally finished the update. Hopefully I didn't forget anything.
I also hope that you like the changes made.

Feedback is still welcome, be it regarding the update or the build itself.
Thank you all for time and interest.

Is it fair to summarise your argument as follows?

The description of Shadow Illusion provides:

Shadow Illusion (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a shadowcraft mage is able to infuse some of her figments (see the list below) with material from the Plane of Shadow, making them partially real. The subschool of these spells changes from figment to shadow. A shadowcraft mage can use the altered spell to mimic any sorcerer or wizard conjuration (summoning), conjuration (creation), or evocation spell at least one level lower than the illusion spell. The altered spell functions identically to the shadow conjuration or shadow evocation spell, except that the spell's strength equals 10% per level of the figment spell used.

For example, a shadowcraft mage who uses silent image to create an acid splash would deal 10% of the normal damage to a creature that succeeds on its Will save to disbelieve the shadow. If she used programmed image to mimic summon monster V, the creature would have 60% of the hit points of a normal creature of its kind, and its damage would be 60% normal against a creature that succeeds on its Will save to disbelieve.

A shadowcraft mage can apply shadow illusion to any of the following figment spells: silent image, minor image, major image, persistent image, and programmed image.

Page 7 of Complete Arcane describes a Warlock's infusions as follows:

A warlock's infusions are spell-like abilities...

...

Since spell-like abilities are not actually spells, a warlock cannot benefit from the Spell Focus feat. He can, however, benefit from the Ability Focus feat (see page 303 of the Monster Manual), as well as from feats that emulate metamagic effects for spell-like abilities, such as Quicken Spell-Like Ability and Empower Spell-Like Ability (see pages 303 and 304 of the Monster Manual).

You acknowledge that the description of Shadow Illusion refers to one of a limited number of identified figment spells cast by the Shadowcraft Mage, and the description of Warlock says that the Warlock's invocations are spell-like abilities. Nonetheless, for the reasons that follow, you say that Shadow Illusion is capable of applying to the Warlock's infusions, provided its other requirements are met.

Page 71 of Complete Arcane states that Warlocks are able to use sudden metamagic feats:

Sudden Metamagic Feats: These metamagic feats don't require modified spell slots, and so they work as well with spell-like abilities or invocations as they do with spells (though because spell-like abilities don't have verbal or somatic components, Sudden Silent Spell doesn't apply and Sudden Still Spell applies only to invocations).

The description of each of the sudden metamagic feats refers to 'any spell you can cast'. You therefore take the view that casting a spell-like ability is functionally identical to casting a spell for the purpose of any feats or abilities that require you to be able to cast a spell.

You finish by saying that Flee the Scene is functionally equivalent to Arcane Fusion and, therefore, if Arcane Fusion is capable of meeting the requirements of Shadow Illusion, so is Flee the Scene.

[Gruftzwerg]

Is it fair to summarise your argument as follows?

Be to full precise here, any rule argumentation starts with:

- The Primary Source Rule (PSR) -
The PSR sets the hierarchy between rules and decides under which circumstances they may trump each other and when not. Since the main question is regarding SLA and how they interact with spells, the most general rules for that topic can be found in the general SLA rules.

- Specific Trumps General -
If you want to trump the general rules, you need to create a specific niche and than make an explicit call out for the change.

When we apply this to our situation, Complete Arcane would need to create a more specific niche as general SLA to be able to do any changes at all. Theoretically being a warlock or the fact that a warlock uses invocations would qualify for being more a more specific situation/rule.

But the problem thrives from its wording:

Since spell-like abilities are not actually spells, a warlock cannot benefit from the Spell Focus feat.

The sentence is not talking about the specific warlock or his specific invocations. It tries to make a general SLA rule claim, based on assumed general SLA rules. But those general SLA rules don't back up this statement and are in direct conflict with this statement:

In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell

The fact the Complete Arcane claims that Sudden Metamagic feats work with SLA proves this, since those Sudden Metamagic feats require you to "cast a spell". This alone shows that the previous made statement in Complete Arcane about SLA and not being Spells (and not even to count as such) can't be right.

Conclusion: Complete Arcane didn't create a more specific situation in its wording, but made a wrong conclusion based on wrongly assumed general rules. Thus the PSR cancels it for being in conflict with the general rules for that topic (SLA).